Mostly irrelevant ramblings about music, comic books and other aspects of pop culture with the occasional political rant from an anti-statist perspective.

Thursday, January 03, 2013

Top 13 Bands

For the next few months, since it is now 2013, I am planning on doing a series of random posts that deal with the number 13.Today, I am listing my Top 13 Favorite Bands. So here they are, listed in chronological order by year of activation:

The Beatles were a rock band that formed in Liverpool, England in 1960. As a band they have won 7 Grammy Awards and have been awarded 6 Diamond albums (over 10 million sold), 24 Multi-Platinum albums, 39 Platinum albums, and 45 Gold albums in the United States. In 1988, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They are the best selling band in history. They broke up in 1970.

Pink Floyd was a progressive rock band that formed in London, England in 1965. They went on a permanent hiatus in 1995 sometime after the release of 1994's Division Bell but reunited for one concert in July 2005 at the Live 8 concert in London. Rolling Stone magazine ranked them #51 on their 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list. They have sold over 250 million albums worldwide and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

U2 is a rock band that formed in 1976 in Dublin, Ireland by Paul Hewson (aka Bono), David Evans (aka The Edge), Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen, Jr. They are among the best selling bands in history, having sold over 150 million albums worldwide. They have 22 Grammy Awards and were iducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility in 2005.

Descendents are a punk rock band that formed in Manhatten Beach, California in 1978. They broke up temporarily in 1988 and re-formed in 1996. They have released 6 studio albums, 3 live albums, 3 compilation albums, 3 EPs, and 3 singles.

Bad Religion are a punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California in 1979. They have released 15 studio albums (another is set to release later this month), 3 compilation albums, 2 EPs, 2 live albums, and 27 singles. All of their studio albums, excluding four of them (Stranger Than Fiction, The Gray Race, No Substance, and New America) were released on the same label, Epitaph Records. They have sold over 5 millions albums worldwide.

Screeching Weasel is a pop punk band that started in 1986 in Chicago, Illinois. It has broken up and re-started so many times I don't even bother counting anymore. They have released 12 studio albums, 14 EPs, and 4 compilation albums.

The Bouncing Souls are a punk rock band that formed in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1987. They have released 9 studio albums, 12 EPs, 2 live albums, 4 compilation albums, and 16 singles.

Smoking Popes are a pop punk band that formed in 1991 in Lake in the Hills, Illinois (Chicago suburb). They broke up in 1999 but re-formed in 2005. They have released 6 studio albums, 2 live albums, 2 compilation albums, 6 EPs, and 6 singles.

Weezer is a power pop act that formed in Los Angeles, California is 1992. They have released 9 studio albums, 1 compilation album, 7 EPs, and 25 singles. 3 of their studio albums have been certified platinum.

Dropkick Murphys are a Celtic punk rock band that formed in 1996 in East Milton, Massachusetts. They have released 7 studio albums (and another one is scheduled for release next week), 3 compilation albums, 4 live albums, 3 EPs, and 26 singles. They have also appeared on over a dozen split EPs.

Teenage Bottlerocket is a pop punk band that formed in 2001 in Laramie, Wyoming by twin brothers Ray and Brandon Carlisle. They have released 5 studio albums, 3 EPs, and 4 split EPs.

The Gaslight Anthem is a rock band that formed (like The Bouncing Souls on this list) in New Brunswick, New Jersey. They were formed in 2006 and have released 4 studio albums, 3 EPs, 1 live album, and 10 singles. Their latest release, Handwritten, released in 2012, has reached #3 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart and #2 on the UK albums chart.

John Moreland is a singer/song-writer from the Tulsa, Oklahoma area. His sound can be described as either folk rock or alt-country or even folk punk to some degree.